There are over 80 affiliated chapters of the CSSA, many of them in other countries. There was a list of publications available; at least some of them must be identification guides.

The common names like "hen and chicks" or "Mexican rose" may be applied to several varieties of succulent; however, those varieties may have different scientific names. Someone else's "hen and chicks" may not be the same as mine.

Even Sunset is careful to draw the distinction between:

--Hen and chickens. See SEMPERVIVUM tectorum.--Hen and chicks. See ECHEVERIA.

And there are hundreds of varieties of succulents, some specific to one locale.